Blue Angels

Justin172 · October 24th, 2009, 11:59

I was out at KAFW yesterday watching the Blues practice. When we left I noticed that 6 F-18s were parked at show center, Fat Albert was way down in the runup area of 35, and two backup jets were parked in the runup area of 17.

Does anyone know why they park the planes almost 2 miles apart? Do they just space the planes out to minimize any damage if something goes wrong?

By the way, there's a ton of iron on display at Alliance this year so if you're in the area head on down and take a look.

MikeD · October 24th, 2009, 12:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin172

I was out at KAFW yesterday watching the Blues practice. When we left I noticed that 6 F-18s were parked at show center, Fat Albert was way down in the runup area of 35, and two backup jets were parked in the runup area of 17.

Does anyone know why they park the planes almost 2 miles apart? Do they just space the planes out to minimize any damage if something goes wrong?

By the way, there's a ton of iron on display at Alliance this year so if you're in the area head on down and take a look.

I believe there may be a required clear area underneath and around where the performance will be taking place.

///AMG · October 24th, 2009, 12:48

Fat Albert is a dedicated maintenance/support aircraft, so although it does take part in the show, it's crew also has work to do. My guess is that they were either staging for their portion of the show, or they were dropping off some stuff and did so in an out of the way location. When I was at Fallon several weeks back, they had a maintenance area secluded from the show birds, and they had one of the jets up on jacks doing something with it. Could be this, or it could be just a good place to park it.

Nihon_Ni · October 25th, 2009, 03:10

It could also be that they set up and ordnance area since Fat Albert uses JATO bottles.

H46Bubba · October 25th, 2009, 14:45

They usually keep the spare a/c at the designated maintenance area. That way if a maintenance issue arises, they can land, taxi over, swap a/c and get back into the show as quickly as possible. Had a few buddies that were mechs for the Blues.

I got to do a little TAD while I was waiting for a class in Pensacola and was surprised to learn that they have 4 spare a/c. that stay in Pensacola. There are two #7 a/c (two seater) and the other three can mirror any of the numbers of the other aircraft depending on sheduled maintenace cycles.

October 24th, 2009, 11:59	#1
Justin172 Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: KDAL Posts: 74	Blue Angels I was out at KAFW yesterday watching the Blues practice. When we left I noticed that 6 F-18s were parked at show center, Fat Albert was way down in the runup area of 35, and two backup jets were parked in the runup area of 17. Does anyone know why they park the planes almost 2 miles apart? Do they just space the planes out to minimize any damage if something goes wrong? By the way, there's a ton of iron on display at Alliance this year so if you're in the area head on down and take a look. __________________ Every time you have to take your shoes off at the TSA checkpoint, be thankful that Richard Reid isn't known as the Underwear Bomber.

October 24th, 2009, 12:48	#3
///AMG Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: NAS Meridian, MS Posts: 401	Re: Blue Angels Fat Albert is a dedicated maintenance/support aircraft, so although it does take part in the show, it's crew also has work to do. My guess is that they were either staging for their portion of the show, or they were dropping off some stuff and did so in an out of the way location. When I was at Fallon several weeks back, they had a maintenance area secluded from the show birds, and they had one of the jets up on jacks doing something with it. Could be this, or it could be just a good place to park it.

October 25th, 2009, 03:10	#4
Nihon_Ni Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 526	Re: Blue Angels It could also be that they set up and ordnance area since Fat Albert uses JATO bottles. __________________ MCFI, CFII, MEI, Gold Seal

October 25th, 2009, 14:45	#5
H46Bubba Old Skool Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: CVG Posts: 5,489	Re: Blue Angels They usually keep the spare a/c at the designated maintenance area. That way if a maintenance issue arises, they can land, taxi over, swap a/c and get back into the show as quickly as possible. Had a few buddies that were mechs for the Blues. I got to do a little TAD while I was waiting for a class in Pensacola and was surprised to learn that they have 4 spare a/c. that stay in Pensacola. There are two #7 a/c (two seater) and the other three can mirror any of the numbers of the other aircraft depending on sheduled maintenace cycles. __________________ *"Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do it" - calcapt*

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